PostSomalia
by probieprincess
Summary: For a school essay, we were required to write something, anything, including words from a list of vocab words. Naturally, I wrote about NCIS! Major truckload of Tiva:


**A/n this is a school essay I did. The italicized words are vocabulary words I had to use. It's kinda dark, but kinda cute at the end. It takes place basically from Truth**__**or**__**Consequences to Code of Conduct, and includes spoilers for those and others from season 3 on. The definitions of the vocab words I used are at the end.**

Post-Somalia

It was a _daunting_ task, what he was trying to do. To cheer someone up, when they were at their most _abject_. But he knew he had to do it. She was someone he cared about, and he had to help, when she was at her most _forlorn_. He had to be careful. One wrong move and he could inadvertently _exacerbate_ her situation, or worse. She could become more _taciturn_, _despondent_. Somehow, in that cell, she had developed a _claustrophobia_ that he was sure wasn't there in the cargo container, which they had been trapped in for hours and hours. It felt like so long ago, like it had happened in a previous lifetime as opposed to just a few years ago. If he said the wrong thing, it would _enervate_ her, and she would _abscond_. He couldn't let that happen. Rescuing her had been _harrowing_ enough, but now it was time to deal with the consequences. The consequences of what her father had done.

Eli David seemed _formidable_, but he was nothing more than a coward, more than likely the only person in the world horrible enough to leave his daughter, his only living child, in a Somalian desert. To cause her so much _anxiety _was something Tony could not understand. He shuddered, thinking of that desert. So _desolate_. And the state she had been in, was still in, when they brought her home. In that camp, she had been treated like a _derelict_. It had seemed like a _redoubtable_ task, rescuing her, but trying to get her back to the way she was before everything was ten times worse. It was their job to _allay_ her fears. It was hard to think about her, when Saleem pulled the bag off her head. Bruised, badly beaten. And her skin, it seemed almost _diaphanous_. That made the bruises seem so much easier to see, yet harder to look at.

But emotional wounds are harder to heal than physical ones. You never really know if the injury is completely healed. One slightly _strenuous_ situation and it would burst right open. But he would give anything to hear one of her comebacks to one of his movie references. Just the other day, he had said something, and her response or the lack thereof sent him _reel_ing. Something about it just didn't seem right. Just one _austere_ comeback, something along the lines of "Your dying words will be 'I have seen this film'" would let him know that everything was going to be okay. He missed the person who would threaten to kill him with something as harmless as a paperclip, or the one who would say something like "Broken tape" as opposed to "Broken record". Now, she was withdrawn, almost _feral_. She used to treat everything he said as if it were _reprehensible_, but that person was now _defunct_. And the look in her eyes was blank, almost like _canvas_ before the artist can get to it.

She was _sedate_, no longer the person he used to know. This was a person who has been through something he _abhor_red, and had aged twenty years in three months. Something no human being should ever have to go through. She had always been the strongest. That was evident in what she had done, which was survive a suicide mission. And they had to _renovate_ her feelings, to the point where she was finally okay. _Pacify_ her fears, until you could not tell what she had been through. But she could not go to a shrink. They would not understand. If she had to go to anyone, she would go to Ducky. Ducky knew her well, and would understand what she had been through. He knew what she had been through, like an uncle knows a niece. An uncle who is very close to the niece. And he had training in psychology, but he usually analyzed serial killers and dead people.

Ziva had taken it upon herself to pacify Abby's need to bring herself into a _sobriety_ from Caf-Pow. Abby's love for it was what had helped them find Ziva. All because Saleem was addicted to it. He remembered the look on Gibbs' face when they were explaining that they had found Saleem because of something he always got, and Vance asked what it was. He remembered the look when Abby simply held up her Caf-Pow and said "Ta-da." And he remembered Saleem finding out how they had found him, and throwing his canteen of Caf-Pow across the room. Storming out, and bringing back the person with the bag over their head. Ziva.

It had been a month since everything had happened. They had just wrapped up a case where a Marine was killed by his own step-daughter. Tony walked in for work. No case today, but he still felt like he was sitting on top of the world. He had won the Larceny Lotto, and felt very _affluent. _He sits down. She has this grin, one he hadn't seen since she coated their binoculars with some sort of black pigment. He thinks nothing of it. She walks over and gives him a cup of coffee. Again, he thinks nothing of it. He takes a drink. She hands him a mirror, and he looks in it. HIS TEETH ARE BLUE!

**Daunting: scary**

**Abject: utterly hopeless, miserable, humiliating**

**Forlorn: unhappy or miserable**

**Exacerbate: to increase the severity, bitterness, or violence of**

**Taciturn: inclined to silence; reserved in speech; reluctant to join in conversation**

**Despondent: feeling or showing profound hopelessness, dejection, discouragement, or gloom**

**Claustrophobia: an abnormal fear of being in enclosed or narrow places**

**Enervate: to deprive of force or strength; destroy the vigor of; weaken**

**Abscond: hide**

**Harrowing: extremely disturbing or distressing; grievous**

**Formidable: causing fear, apprehension, or dread**

**Anxiety: distress or uneasiness of mind caused by fear of danger or misfortune**

**Desolate: deprived or destitute of inhabitants; deserted; uninhabited**

**Derelict: a person abandoned by society**

**Allay: to put (fear, doubt, suspicion, anger, etc.) to rest; calm; quiet**

**Diaphanous: very sheer and light; almost completely transparent or translucent**

**Strenuous: demanding or requiring vigorous exertion; laborious**

**Reel: throw off-balance**

**Austere: simple**

**Feral: funereal; gloomy**

**Reprehensible: blameworthy**

**Defunct: obsolete; no longer there**

**Canvas****:**** a piece of canvas or a similar material on which a painting is done, usually in oils**

**Sedate: quiet**

**Abhor: hate**

**Renovate: to restore to good condition; make new or as if new again; repair**

**Pacify: to bring or restore to a state of peace or tranquility; quiet; calm**

**Sobriety: temperance or moderation**

**Affluent: rich**


End file.
